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Oilers end 11-game losing streak with first Western win

Barclay Goodrow, Justin Schultz

Barclay Goodrow, Justin Schultz

AP

Going into tonight’s game against the San Jose Sharks, the Edmonton Oilers hadn’t won since Nov. 9, they hadn’t earned a home win since Oct. 27, they hadn’t beaten a Western Conference team this season, and they had the worst record in the NHL. Three of those four things are no longer true as Edmonton managed to scrape together a 2-1 victory.

For just the 10th time in 27 games this season, the Oilers were able to get on the board first thanks to a power-play goal from Nail Yakupov. The 2012 first overall pick got his first point since Nov. 11 and eighth overall this season.

Tye McGinn evened the contest just over two minutes later, but David Perron scored what would become the game-winning goal midway through the third period.

Naturally its hard to be optimistic about Edmonton just because its no longer in the midst of one of the worst losing streaks since 2009, especially given the Oilers’ failures over the last nine seasons. Even still, this offers them an opportunity to grow.

“It’s great to get a win, and especially a win where we thought we deserved two points. Now we have to carry it over,” Taylor Hall said, per the Oilers’ Twitter feed.

“This doesn’t mean a lot if we’re not going to stick to it. We have to replicate that kind of effort night after night,” winning goaltender Ben Scrivens added.

This was just the first of three meetings between these squads scheduled for December. Edmonton and San Jose will also battle on Tuesday and the 18th.

Follow @RyanDadoun